Contra Aid Approved In Senate

WASHINGTON — A divided Senate gave President Reagan a surprisingly narrow foreign policy victory Thursday, voting 53 to 47 to send $100 million in military and humanitarian aid to Nicaraguan rebels.

The close result in the Republican-controlled Senate kept the president`s aid request alive, but denied him the overwhelming, bipartisan backing that many senators said was needed to sustain any foreign policy.

Republican leaders, though disappointed by the narrow margin, said the vote did endorse Reagan`s attempts to force Nicaragua`s Sandinista government to the bargaining table.

Reagan professed his pleasure at the results.

``The Senate`s action is sure to send a profoundly reassuring signal to the freedom fighters in Nicaragua and to Nicaragua`s threatened neighbors,`` he said in a prepared statement.

``It helps to demonstrate that it is indeed possible to forge a substantial and responsible bipartisan policy for promoting democracy and stability in our hemisphere.``

The issue now returns to the House, which defeated the military aid option by a close 222-210 vote earlier this month. Speaker Thomas P. ``Tip`` O`Neill has promised to allow consideration of a compromise by mid-April.

Most congressmen expect some form of aid to be provided, but none can be sent until both chambers agree on a final measure. The administration says each day of delay spells more trouble for the beleaguered rebel force known as the ``Contras.``

The administration long had been expected to win a majority in the Senate. Its supporters had hoped to get a big enough vote and draw in enough Democrats to influence the Democratic-controlled House. As it turned out, the 11 Democrats who crossed over to vote for the aid plan were offset by an equal number of Republicans voting no.

``We would have liked to get a larger vote,`` Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard Lugar, R-Ind., acknowledged afterward. He said the president had hoped to win more than 60 votes in the Senate.

The conflicting reports of Nicaraguan incursions into Honduras ``didn`t make any difference`` in the Senate vote, Lugar said.

Some opponents feared the vote would be one more step toward American involvement in war. But the closeness of the tally left them encouraged that Reagan will be forced to compromise.

``Frankly, I think the vote was so close that you cannot call it a victory for the administration`s policy,`` Sen. Jim Sasser, D-Tenn., told reporters. ``What this does is strengthen the hand of the House of Representatives in developing a final policy.``

Senators on both sides of the controversy said a divided Congress would leave the United States without a clear message to the American people, the Sandinista leadership, the rebels and Latin American democracies.

``If that message is one of weakness, of divisiveness, of indecision, of partisanship, no one will listen to us, nor should they,`` Sen. Dan Evans, R- Wash., told his colleagues on the Senate floor.

The Senate measure, nearly the same as the version already rejected by the House, gave Reagan what he sought with relatively few restrictions. It would provide:

$100 million for the rebels -- $70 million in military aid and $30 million in humanitarian aid, including $3 million to develop human rights programs.

$25 million to be sent immediately, with the remainder in 15 percent increments every 90 days, depending on progress in negotiations.

A stipulation that the United States press for talks with the Nicaraguan government, as long as the rebels are allowed to participate.

The measure differs from the one rejected by the House in that it incorporates the delay period. When the issue came before the House the president had promised the delay, but it wasn`t part of the supplemental appropriations bill.

Lugar said the measure would ensure that the president would make sincere attempts to seek negotiations with Nicaragua.

But Democratic leaders said some restrictions were needed to force both the administration and the Nicaraguans into negotiations.

The main Democratic alternative would have restricted the aid to require American-Nicaraguan talks, excluding the rebels. The Sandinistas have said they are willing to negotiate with the United States, but not with the Contras.

Sasser of Tennessee, a moderate Democrat who had tried to fashion a compromise, said, ``It`s time to agree on where we`re going in Central America before we find ourselves with troops in the battlefield and body bags coming back home.``

His alternative, which among other things would have provided for bilateral negotiations, was defeated earlier by a vote of 67 to 33.

The overwhelming majority of senators seemed to agree that some effort should be made to contain the spread of the Nicaraguan revolution, press for human rights within Nicaragua, seek a negotiated settlement, provide humanitarian aid to the rebels and hold out the possibility of some military aid.

The controversy centers on what kind of restrictions to put on that aid.